The Mayor’s Panel on Compassionate Cities

Founder of the global movement, The Charter for Compassion, Karen Armstrong believes, “A compassionate city is an uncomfortable city! A city that is uncomfortable when anyone is homeless or hungry. Uncomfortable if every child isn’t loved and given rich opportunities to grow and thrive. Uncomfortable when as a community we don’t treat our neighbors as we would wish to be treated.” No single community in the world is a Compassionate Community in any abstract or formal sense, just as no community is devoid of compassion. Each community finds its own path to establishing compassion as a driving and motivating force, and each conducts its own evaluation of what is “uncomfortable” in that community’s unique culture—that is, those issues that cause pain and suffering to members of the community. This panel, chaired by San Antonio, TX mayor interacts with a panel of international mayors whose cities have either affirmed the Charter for Compassion or are working with local community teams toward that goal.